Conventional clothes hangers typically include a rigid triangular frame roughly in the shape of an isosceles triangle. A hook or the like is located at the apex of the hanger frame for attachment to a hanger rod. The shoulders of a garment, such as a shirt, coat or jacket, are draped over the upper arm members of the clothes hanger to suspend the garment in a generally upright orientation so as to reduce the risk of wrinkling. When the frame includes a horizontally extending stiffening member, garments such as pants or trousers may be draped over the stiffening member to reduce the risk of wrinkling or creasing the garment.
A wide variety of hangers have been developed to meet a variety of needs. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,644,844 describes a clothes hanger wherein the frame arms are retractable so as to accept garments of different sizes. U.S. Pat. No. 7,172,102 describes a collapsible clothes hanger. U.S. Pat. No. 6,296,160 describes a coat hanger including hoops and clips for holding ties, scarfs and belts. U.S. Pat. No. 7,641,084 describes a coat hanger which also has adjustable arms for accepting clothes of different sizes. U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,183 describes a plastic coat hanger having stiffening members. U.S. Pat. No. 6,152,313 describes a clothes hanger rack for affixing to the top of a door. The rack includes u-shaped hooks with flat surfaces so as to affix to a door. Moreover, the rack includes a plurality of hooks for accepting clothes or for accepting the rounded hooks of traditional coat hangers.
Unfortunately, each of the aforementioned clothes hangers suffer from serious disadvantages. Foremost, none of the prior art coat hangers are suitable for affixing to both a traditional clothes rod having a circular cross-section and to the top of a door having a flat upper surface. Thus, there is a need for a clothes hanger that is capable of affixing to both round rods and flat surfaces like a door.
Further, it would be desirable to provide a clothes hanger which was lightweight and inexpensive to manufacture.